JP Smith responds to allegations of missing firearms in Cape Town

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith has hit back at claims made by National Coloured Congress’s (NCC) leader, Fadiel Adams’ that 27 firearms belonging to Metro Police went missing in 2002.

Smith kicked back to the allegations via his Facebook page and also responded to the Cape Argus’ queries about the claims, in which he stated that four firearms had vanished in the past two years and that the more than two-decade discrepancy was due to an administrative error which had been ironed out.

“It has come to our attention that the NCC political party and their various proxies are sharing misinformation related to the Metro Police Firearms,” Smith explained. 

“As the City would like to dismiss and condemn their continued attempts to share misinformation.

“The facts of the matter are: In the past 2 years the City of Cape Town has only lost 4 firearms, 3 were recovered and the 1 missing firearm was an armed robbery.

“The 27 firearms referred in their misinformation pertain to historic firearms that were purchased and licensed under various municipalities prior to their integration into a single UNICITY, namely the City of Cape Town in 2002.

“This matter originates from systemic record-keeping failures within the Central Firearms Register (CFR), particularly errors that occurred during the migration of firearm data from the Electronic Firearm Register System (EFRS) to the database under the Firearms Control Act (Act 60 of 2000).

“Evidence suggests that several firearms were either never properly documented due to administrative irregularities or erroneously linked to the City’s Official Institution without supporting evidence.

“Reports dating back to before 2002 indicate that the South African Police Service (SAPS) had already identified discrepancies related to “lost firearms.” Metro Police formally reported these anomalies, as evidenced in a sworn statement by the former Chief of Metro Police.”

 Smith added that discussions regarding this issue have been ongoing in quarterly meetings with CFR (Central Firearm Register), where multiple municipalities have raised similar concerns about unaccounted-for firearms still appearing in their records.

 “Despite repeated engagements with SAPS to correct these discrepancies, no remedial action has been taken, especially following the resignation and retirement of senior SAPS management. The issue has now resurfaced due to Metro Police engagements with newly appointed SAPS staff in another attempt to remove these firearms from our records,” he added. 

 “Furthermore, we can assure residents of Cape Town that SAPS has conducted multiple inspections of the Official Institution over the past 4 (four) years and continues to use the City as a benchmark for compliance."

In a video posted to Facebook, Adams said Smith and Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis were present at the Mitchells Plain Police station in January 2024 after the murder of 12-year-old Firdous Kleinsmidt, and asked what had happened to the firearms that went missing there.

Fifteen guns and five imitation firearms disappeared from the Mitchell’s Plain Police station after it was supposed to be booked in at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Plattekloof.

"You found out in 2002 that 27 guns were gone. What did you do? Nothing," Adams said. "You tried to keep it a secret.

 “I have just seen your press release, guns disappeared in 2002, let's say 27 guns disappeared , I get that you were not in charge .

“When our councillor asked about it, you told her you need to get a legal opinion.”

Cape Argus